The previous episode foretold of a very possible scenario for episode 7, and unfortunately most of it became truth. As the war with the Sky Clan ramps up against the island of Isla, it’s already obvious that the tragedy of war will soon be upon our cast.

As the Aerial Knights begin to rain their attacks on the convoys before them, the students at the academy are rounded up to prepare for war. In this scenario, no man or woman is to be left unequipped. As the Sky Clan’s convoy falls with little effort, questions begin to arise as to why they would send such a small and ill-equipped squad. The only answer is that they were a distraction for the main fleets to surround Isla.

The academy students are split into multiple groups to scout the surrounding area for possible fleets, though the teams that include Claire and Ignacio are to be on standby for obvious reasons. Known only later to Kal-el and Ari when the count mistress arrives to take Claire and Ignacio away. It’s then that we discover that Ignacio has been present at the academy to be Claire’s bodyguard.

As Mitsuo and Chiharu scout a nearby location, they discover a large fleet that is moving in on Isla. They send in an emergency message to the command center who dispatch the Aerial Knights to intercept. Though when the Aerial Knights arrive, the Sky Clan turn off their navigation lights to hide themselves from view. Showing their obvious skill in formation.

Due to this, the Aerial Knights are flying blind in the clouds. So after Mitsuo and Chiharu come to an agreement of protecting their friends, they fire flares into the fleet of Sky Clan in order to illuminate them to the Aerial Knight’s fire. This of course puts them in direct fire of the entire fleet.

While fighting to survive, Mitsuo takes a bullet to the stomach. In an effort to save his beloved Chiharu, he asks her to parachute out of the plane. Assuring her that he would follow suit. Though it becomes obvious as she’s let off the plane that Mitsuo would be staying behind to draw the enemy planes away.

As Chiharu slowly descends, Mitsuo’s plane is destroyed in a blaze by gunfire. While she believes she will be next as planes aim their sights at her, intercepting fire rains in and she’s picked up by her commanding officers.

The war only thickens as another fleet is storming the Isla while the Aerial Knights are away. Kal-el decides that he and the rest of his team that were left behind should join in to protect Isla as well. And as we look into the preview for the next episode, things are looking to get even more crazy as the war progresses.

It’s unfortunate that a lot of the strength of this episode was lost during the previous episode. I had already written Mitsuo off right after watching episode 6. The flag was set and the conclusion was obvious. It made me detach from him over the week break from episode to episode. Causing this whole loss to not impact me as much as it could have.

That said, his loss was still very powerful. While not to the point of tears. They definitely sent him off in a very heroic way that was true to his kind spirit that we’ve seen up until now. In the end, he protecting his beloved Chiharu and solidified him as my favorite character in this series. RIP Mitsuo.

I’m enjoying the use of CG in this show. While characters hanging out of planes look a bit odd, it all matches to the art style very well. At no point in these large-scale battles do I feel like I’m watching a CG heavy mecha show.

Episode 7: A Glorious Death

THUMBS UP!

IMPRESSIONS VERDICT:Solid Episode

Goods:

Tragic loss

Solid tactics used

Good aerial combat

Fears:

Little too predictable

Impressions are based on a single episode and don’t necessarily reflect the series as a whole. Unless dropped, we will continue to give updates on thoughts and impressions of the series as time goes by.

Co-Founder of OtakuSpirit.com and Co-Host of the OtakuSpirit Animecast. A huge fan of anime since the early 1990s, consuming over 800 shows. While he's late to the collecting scene, he's found a lot of joy in filling his DVD/Blu-ray collection as well as collecting figures. Once a week, he posts unboxing and feature videos on anime goods to YouTube.

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